


Witnesses

by cliniclyInsane189



Series: Whumptober 2020 [17]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Phobias, Statement Fic (The Magnus Archives), The Beholding Fear Entity (The Magnus Archives), The Vast Fear Entity (The Magnus Archives), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27089641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cliniclyInsane189/pseuds/cliniclyInsane189
Summary: Two unfortunate bystanders get dragged into two Fear Avatars' strange dating practices.Featuring confused statement givers, an exasperated Archivist and a cameo from an amused Archival Assistant.
Relationships: Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947934
Kudos: 4
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Witnesses

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Whumptober Day 18 - ‘Panic! At the Disco’ - Panic attacks | **Phobias | Paranoia** (but mostly phobias).  
> I figured this kind of fit with the fandom pretty well.  
> The f/f relationship is mentioned and the characters in it don't technically appear in the fic, but given the format they might as well.

It isn’t all that often that someone requests to make a statement in person, really. It can be… frustrating, to deal with people in the condition that many statement givers come in, in, though that tends to lessen once they start to talk. Jon used to think that was due to a sense of catharsis, or something like it, but after… recent events… he’s starting to suspect otherwise.

And, honestly, he’d been expecting statements like these sooner than this.

He clears his throat.

“Alright,” he says, clicking the tape recorder on. “Let’s get started. I see you’ve already filled in the paperwork… So. Statement of Benny Carr, regarding a… Freak climbing accident?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Thank you. Statement recorded direct from subject, 26th October 2016. Statement begins.” He pauses. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Benny draws in a deep breath, then lets it out very, very slowly.

“Okay. From the beginning, right?

“Well, I’ve been climbing for about ten, fifteen years now - ever since I was in secondary school. I started to try and get rid of my fear of heights but it didn’t work. I think it may even have got worse, but that didn’t stop me from falling in love with it anyway. I think it must be the adrenaline rush, y’know? Like when you’re on a rollercoaster - it’s no fun if you aren’t at least a bit scared. So, I go climbing as often as I can. At least once a week to an indoor wall near my place, then once a month, or every two months, I take the weekend and go somewhere with good outdoor spots.

“This last one, when the incident happened, I’d taken the Friday off work and headed up to the Lakes. There’re some wonderful spots up there - away from the regular tourists but positively crawling with climbing aficionados on a nice day. And this was quite the day. Light cloud, barely any breeze, nice and dry, and not too hot. So, while I was there, I ended up sticking with a group of other climbers who were staying at the same youth hostel as me.

“There were about ten of them and not all of them knew each other. There were two pairs, both couples, a group of three, and then the rest were solo, like me. They were all nice enough, though some weren’t particularly social.

“There were Leah and Katie, they were one of the couples. They’d come over from Liverpool, a weekend getaway from the city. I don’t think they’d been together very long - I think Leah mentioned it was their first weekend away together.

“Then there were Jackie, Siobhan and Anna - group of students from Manchester. Apparently, they’d been there with their climbing club a few months before and just really wanted to go back.

“Then… Ruth was pretty quiet. All I know about her is that she’s from the east coast, works in a school, and is a huge fan of US crime dramas. Isobel was pretty much the opposite - she was talking enough for all of us. She lived in London, too, but apparently used to live nearby. There was a lot more, but then we’d be here all night. Then Jean, he was a… Writer, I think, from France. Spoke really good English, though he said he only started learning it seriously a couple of years ago.

“And then… Then there was the other couple. I mention them last because I’m pretty sure that at least one of them had something to do with what happened. It’s just a hunch, mind, but there was just something off about them. I didn’t see it at all until we got out there, and barely then. It was… It was just something about the way they were acting, after. Their names were Aria and Metis. The latter was quiet - not shy, just not particularly verbose. The former was kinda like Isobel, but not to quite the same extreme. I think they must have been together for a long time, because Metis told me that she ‘like me’ wasn’t all that fond of heights, but put up with it for Aria.

“That was the first thing that should have warned me something wasn’t quite right - I hadn’t mentioned my, well, my phobia to any of the others, and here was a total stranger bringing it up in casual conversation.

“But, well, I didn’t really notice it. The three of us, along with Isobel, decided to split off from the rest of the group and go for a different route. It wasn’t really more technically difficult, but I’d climbed it before, as had Isobel, and the view was really something to behold. That was on the Saturday afternoon.

“The second thing was just before Isobel started her first climb, and she made some joke about the quality of the rock, or the rope, or something - anyway, basically she said she ‘hoped she wouldn’t fall’.

“And then Aria said this:

“Oh, don’t you worry Isobel, you’ll reach the ground intact from that height. Eventually.”

“We all laughed it off at the time, and Isobel did indeed get back down in short order. Then Metis went, with a whole lot of silent complaining that we could all see, and then it was my turn.

“I made it to the top, and I was halfway back down when it happened. I’d paused for a minute, just to take in the view.

“But before I could turn back to the face and continue belaying myself down, there was a tap on my elbow.

“I turned, and there was Aria, clinging to the rock singlehanded, not a rope in sight and grinning at me like a child at a theme park.

“She just grinned at me, and then my grip slipped and I was falling. Despite myself, my eyes slammed shut as I braced for the jerk of the rope pulling me to a halt. But then, the rope didn’t go taut. It just kept going.

“And then it kept going further and further and further and I opened my eyes and there. Was. nothing. Nothing but a wide, blue sky, dotted with clouds that always moved but never came closer. It was beautiful; terribly, terribly beautiful.

“It, quite literally, took my breath away.

“I have no idea how long I was falling for but, eventually, after I’d given up hope I’d ever stop, there was a jerk.

“The rope went taut and I grabbed it instinctively, hitting my helmet against the rock in front of me as I did so. I looked around. I’d fallen maybe a few metres at best - judging from the yelling below, a rock had come loose in my grip, falling and nearly hitting Isobel on the head.

“I made the rest of the descent as quickly as I dared and, when my feet finally hit the ground, my hands were shaking too much for me to untie my rope.

“Isobel stepped forward to help me, chiding me for my carelessness the entire time, though I could tell it was more out of concern than anything. Neither Aria nor Metis moved, though both were flushed, with windswept hair and an unsettling brightness about their eyes, as if they’d been falling too.

“I didn’t climb again the next day. I didn’t really feel up to it, after all that.

“Didn’t want to waste the weekend, though, so I spent the morning at a small café in town. I saw _them_ again in the late morning. I don’t know if Aria saw me, but Metis did.

“She smiled at me from across the room, eyes locked firmly on to mine, and I suddenly knew, somehow, that I had been very, very lucky.”

Benny swallows hard and the tension in the room begins to clear.

“And that’s everything. What do you think?”

Jon sighs, leaning back in his seat.

“You’re right, you _are_ lucky.”

“Wait. You believe me?”

“We… We’ve had statements concerning _those two_ before.”

“Really?”

“If it’s any consolation, any encounters with either of them very rarely end in fatalities _or_ repeat incidents.”

“Um, it is, actually.”

“That doesn’t mean you’ll never see either of them again, it’s just unlikely they’ll…”

“Do anything weird?” Benny asks sardonically. “Just - what do you mean by that?”

“They’re often seen in London, so as long as you live here there’s a non-zero chance you may just run into them in the streets.”

“Fine,” Benny says. “Whatever. Um. Thanks - I actually feel a lot better.”

“Are you going to keep climbing?”

Benny, who was in the process of standing up, cocks their head, then shrugs.

“You know what? Yeah, I am.”

Jon clicks of the tape recorder as they leave the room.

Seconds later, Tim sticks his head in.

“Good one?” He asks, clearly trying not to sound too curious.

Jon sighs.

“Just our, ah, _neighbours_ ,” he says. “Honestly, there are some things I _really_ don’t need to know about _any_ of them.”

“Ah,” Tim says, nodding sagely. “Bringing terror upon people is how they flirt, got it.”

Jon groans.

“I hate that you’re probably right.”

* * *

Three weeks later, another one comes in.

This one is significantly less composed than the other and keeps nervously glancing around, picking at the fraying hem of their shirt.

“Are you okay to begin, Vic?”

Vic opens their mouth, then closes it again.

They close their eyes and give a hesitant, but somehow firm, nod.

“Yes,” they whisper. “I’m ready.”

“Okay,” Jon says, clicking on the tape recorder. “Statement of Vic Layton, regarding an unsettling encounter on the ferry from Dover to Calais. Recorded direct from subject, 16th November 2016. Statement begins.”

Vic takes another deep breath.

“Um, okay. This was only a few days ago. I was coming back from visiting family in Normandy. I got one of the later ferries, so it wasn’t as busy as they can be. It was a nice enough evening - cold, not too much of a breeze and a fairly calm sea, so I decided to spend most of my time up on deck. There were a few others that did the same - one guy spent half his time looking like he was about to throw up, clinging onto the railings like they were the only thing keeping him upright. There were a few who came in and out several times, mostly smokers.

“Now, I’m not really one for crowds so, to me, this was vastly preferable to being stuck inside with hundreds of people I’ve never met before. I just… I always feel like everyone’s watching me _judging_ me - it’s irrational, I know, but that doesn’t mean I know how to make it stop. 

“A couple of times, while I was out there, people would stop and try to talk to me - just small-talk: ‘nice weather, isn’t it’, ‘how much longer, do you think’; that sort of thing. Then… There was this one lady - she was one of the only non-smokers who came out more than once. She had long, dark brown hair with the ends dyed a very light shade of blue - though the most striking thing about her were her bright blue-green eyes. I’d never seen a colour quite like it. She talked to everyone at least once, it seemed. Including me. She was weird but, at first, I figured she was just lonely. Then, she came back out with another person. This person seemed her opposite - short, dark hair in a sort of faux-mohawk cut, acting quiet and reserved.

“They stood near me for a while, just talking, and then the newcomer turned to me and looked me dead in the eye with eyes of a brighter green than I’ve ever seen in my life and she said;

“It’s hard, isn’t it? Always being at the centre of _everyone’s_ attention, always being scrutinised, having people always looking for a mistake in what you’re doing. Even _your own family_ . Don’t you want to **_talk about it?_ **”

“And even though my stomach dropped and I suddenly felt much, much colder, I started to talk. I had no idea how this person knew that about me, no idea why I suddenly began to spill everything out to her, but once I started talking I just couldn’t stop. And I couldn’t look away, either. I felt pinned to the spot, like an insect on a pin-board.

“I have no idea how long I spoke for but, by the time I stopped, we were close enough to see Dover clearly - not just the lights, but the buildings, too.

“It took me a while to reorient myself and, by the time I did, they were both gone.”

Vic takes another deep breath, exhaling slowly.

“And that’s everything.”

“Statement ends,” Jon says, as an unnoticed pressure seems to lift from the room. “Thank you for taking the time to come in and talk about this, I can tell it wasn’t easy.”

Vic nods.

“Thank you for listening,” they say, quietly. “I thought I was going crazy.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that with this particular encounter,” Jon says. He hesitates. “Have you had any… Strange dreams, since then?”

Vic shakes their head.

“No,” they reply. “I haven’t dreamed at all. Should I… Should I come back, if anything… changes?”

“If you feel it may be related to this incident, yes, please do.”

“Thank you,” Vic says, standing. “I’m sorry, I need to go - I had to take time out of work for this.”

“Of course, of course,” Jon says, clicking the tape recorder off. “We’ll be in touch if there are any developments.”

Vic nods and slips quietly out of the office.

Jon sighs and glares balefully in the general direction of the light, watchful presence that prickles at his skin.

“This is twice in a month,” he says, reproachfully. 

The presence seems to recede momentarily, almost apologetically. 

“We _will_ be talking about this later,” he says.

Seconds later, his phone buzzes on his desk.

He picks it up.

_In our defence,_

the message reads,

 _we didn’t expect them_ **_both_ ** _to go to you. Sorry._

Jon scowls in the general direction of the security camera, then taps out a reply.

 ** _Please,_** _keep it to yourselves in the future._

The reply pings through almost as soon as Jon presses send.

_No promises ;)_

Jon sighs again and shoves his phone in his pocket.

Those two were absolutely ridiculous for two such powerful individuals. It was a good thing they weren’t as malicious as some of the others.

**Author's Note:**

> I can assure you, both statement givers were suitably traumatised AND confused by their encounters. And yes, Metis and Aria do leave them alone after. (Also, Metis is the same OC from my previous TMA fic, just going by a different name.)  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
